Through The Looking Glass
by Tribble Master
Summary: Curiouser and curiouser! We're all mad here. Sam takes a fall, and wakes up some where wonderful. The sooner he learns, the sooner he'll get out. And Dean has a badger problem


**Challenge Issued By:** Yohko Bennington. Hope it's as good as your dream!  
Beta'd by the lovely **enviousxbeauty  
**And, as per usual, I don't own them.

**Through The Looking Glass**

"Sam!" Dean yelled. He tossed Sam the flare gun he needed to postpone the advance of the Wendigo.

Sam looked up, and missed the catch by inches. The Wendigo took the opportunity to slam Dean against the cave wall. All his focus returned as Sam scrambled for the gun. Two shots later he was staring at a burned corpse and his unconsciousness brother.

He stepped over the dead beast and helped Dean up. "Okay?"

Dean swatted his hand away. "I'm fine. Just pay attention, next time okay?"

Dean walked away grumbling, inspecting himself. Sam followed in melancholy pursuit.

"Try to keep up." Dean called.

_Have you learned  
Anything at all?  
Or do you need  
To take a fall?_

"Teamwork," John Winchester had drilled into their heads. "Teamwork is important."

Dean was silent as they walked through the woods. Sam fretted over his mistake; something had been off with their team work lately. He wondered what it was lately that made him so easily distracted.

As that thought flirted across his mind he stumbled over a tree root and fell. His lanky frame began to roll down the hill as he called out to Dean.

Dean dropped the weapons and ran down the hill. To his dismay Sam's fall was cut short as he fell into a sink hole. It took only a minute for him to decide to jump in.

But as he approached where the hole's edge should have been, he saw only firm ground.

Sam was gone.

_Don't hold your breath  
You won't find him here.  
Search all you want,  
But he's disappeared. _

The first five minutes were terrifying as Sam anticipated a splattered end. After ten, he started to question if such an end would ever come. At about the thirty minute mark he wondered dully if Dean was near by.

Probably not, he figured.

As the hours ticked away Sam thought over the potential ramifications.

I'm crazy, he decided.

With those words he felt a soft plop as he landed on the marble floor. Sam stood up, and brushed dust off. He was unharmed, just a little disorientated. He raised his head to see the entrance but he didn't see any sunlight.

Well that explains why I haven't seen Dean, he mused.

Then he realized with sudden clarity that he was trapped. As he spun around the room he noticed the small table and even tinier door.

As promising as it looked, he was too tall to get into the foot tall door. Upon closer inspection he noticed on the table was some beer labeled DRINK ME and an apple pie labeled EAT ME.

Sam raised one eyebrow. He knew well enough to be suspicious of mysterious food offerings. He pocketed the pie immediately for later, but decided to try just one sip of the beer.

Just one touch of the amber liquid on his lips, and he immediately felt squeamish. He swallowed and recapped it. He looked at the bottle and put it back in his pocket. Looking up, he noticed all of the sudden the table was growing larger.

Soon the table was four times his height. And the door, he suddenly noticed was still too small… by about three inches.

Sam gave a heavy sigh. Only he could manage to be freakishly tall, even when shrunk.

As he approached the door he noticed it was locked. He glared at the door, and then looked back at the table. Glimmering on its surface was a lovely golden key that was still out of reach.

Sam shrugged. "Wonderful." He said sarcastically as he fished for his lock picking tools. As he held up the fine wire the doorknob shuddered.

"I'd rather wish you wouldn't put that in my mouth," it said, "You're not a dentist are you?"

"N-n-no." Sam stuttered.

The door knob harrumphed. "Why didn't you just ask?"

"Okay…Can I go through?"

"Only if you can answer my question." The doorknob smirked.

"What's your question?" Sam asked hesitantly.

"What are you afraid of?" The doorknob asked as she swung the door open wide. Her lips froze as he became solid bronze.

Sam passed through the door with bated breath.

o-o-o-o-o-o

It was a tiny room with water on the floor. Sam noticed the water was rising fast, and as he scanned, he realized they were tears.

The blonde woman in the corner lifted her hand and smiled at Sam. He blinked until he recognized her, "Mom?!"

"Oh Sam!" Mary yelled, tears still falling from her eyes. She frowned, "Where's your brother?"

Sam shrugged and she cried harder. The water level continued to rise. Almost to his miniaturized chest level. He started to flap his arms to stay afloat. "Find him, find him…" Her voice echoed as he floated away.

_You can try to float  
And avoid these facts…  
You can't avoid when  
Your problems circle back._

Sucked into the undertow, Sam struggled with flailing arms. Floating past him was a giggling octopus. He glared the at tentacle offender. Finally, when his lungs were screaming for air he bobbed to the surface.

Crawling onto dry land, he assumed his adventure was over. Mom or not, she was right. He had to find Dean now.

But as he looked around, he noticed he wasn't out of the woods yet. The checker patterned forest floor was his first concern. Twisted paths wound around the game board. Sam pressed his hand to his forehead, trying to relive the pressure he felt. "Okay," he said aloud, "I can do this…"

He looked up. "I'll go right," he said with little conviction. "Right. Here I go."

_We've all got choices  
That we have to make.  
Sometimes we learn  
From our mistakes. _

Sam stumbled along in confusion until he came to a fork in the road. In the middle was a huge leafy tree. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to make a hasty decision.

"Confused?" purred a voice above him.

He looked up at the gold cat with shimmering emerald eyes. "Uh, yeah." He nodded.

The cat licked its paw. After a moment of silence Sam cleared his throat. The cat looked back down at him. "I'm sorry, do you except _me _to help _you_?"

"Well," Sam looked form side to side. There was nobody around to see him talking to a cat; he gave a sigh of relief. "Yeah, actually I kinda was hoping for just some directions…"

The cat's tail swayed from side to side. "Do you have pie?"

"What?"

The cat jumped onto another branch. "No answers until I get pie."

Sam squinted at the petulant Persian. "Dean?"

The cat gave a wide grin that displayed its sharp teeth. "Oh, Sammy, when will you ever learn? To take the right path, you have to make mistakes…"

Dean disappeared behind the tree's leaves. "Wait!" Sam pounded on the trunk. "That doesn't even make sense!"

Sam waited for a reply, and swore. Dean was gone. He looked back at the path. He started on the right path but then he realized he had to make a mistake… Sam quickly changed to the left path and continued on.

_You won't find  
A way out of here  
Unless you have  
A brother near_

Along the way Sam came upon a huge blue caterpillar that was curled on top of a mushroom the size of the Impala. It was lying on its back and rolled over to acknowledge him.

"Hello." Sam said timidly.

"Hey ya, idjit..." it drawled.

"Bobby?!" Sam stopped dead in his tracks.

"Where's your brother?" Bobby said squirming to sit up.

"Uh, he's," Sam paused, "not here."

"That's no good." Bobby shook his head. "You need two people to play croquet."

"Right," Sam said nodding. "Of course. That makes perfect sense. See you later?"

Bobby wiggled his left antennae. "Don't forget to call."

Walking away, Sam realized he was hungry. He searched his pockets and found he still had the pie. Without hesitation, he took a huge bite before he remembered. Quickly he grew upwards beyond his normal height. He was able to see the entire checkered country side. To his enormous, gigantic relief he could see a cluster of people just up ahead. He took out the beer, and this time made sure to take only a small sip. After mild experimentation he was soon his normal height, give or take. Feeling rejuvenated, he continued ahead to the promise of civility.

To his dismay, the group up ahead was royal party in white. The White King with his ostentatious crown and armor was bellowing orders. As Sam approached, all attention turned to him.

The White King lumbered forward. "M'boy! C'mon join us. That's an order!"

Sam walked uncertainly over to the armored man. He blinked a couple of times to be sure, but it was definitely John Winchester. John waved him over. He pointed at another man armored in white, who was cowering in the King's presence. "Tell me Knight," John yelled, "why did you disobey?"

The Knight trembled and his armor clattered. Without waiting for a response John cuffed him once and yelled, "Next time, try to stick with your team mates."

John turned to Sam. "Now you. Go over to B12, I heard the Queen of Hearts is planning an attack…"

"Of course," Sam nodded. A familiar feline form snickered at his feet. He looked down at the golden Persian.

"We'll go right away." Dean purred.

The King waved a dismissive hand. "And try to keep the shenanigans to a minimum?"

_That's right, march along  
Follow your orders, son.  
Because now we can  
Really have some fun. _

"Dean," Sam said as he searched for something that made sense, "please tell me you know a way out of here."

Dean swatted at a passing pat of butter that had wings. "What a lovely butterfly," he growled pouncing on it. "Now if only I had toast."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Do you at least know where the Queen is?"

"The Queen! The Queen!" Dean laughed at the suggestion. His grin grew wide and he disappeared in his smile.

_Once you start this game  
Stay until it's all done.  
Threaten the Queen and  
You'll have nowhere to run._

Sam looked at the melting butter with twitching wings that laid on the ground. "That's just great." He moaned.

A chocolate brown bunny ran by Sam yelling, "I'm going to be late! Oh no!"

Sam followed Gordon's voice until he came to another section of the chess board. Gordon pulled a watch out of his vest pocket. "Its time! Its time!" he chirped.

Sam looked up at the Queen in her long red dress and crown. "Kneel before the Queen." One of the Rooks yelled at him.

On one knee, Sam looked up into Bella's eyes. She smiled, stroking the golden cat in her arms. "How do you feel about croquet?" Dean asked.

Sam hesitated between addressing Queen Bella or Dean. He lowered his eyes. "It's a nice sport…Your Honor."

"I was just about to abandon this game of chess," she said arrogantly. "It's all a joke anyway. We're going to play croquet."

"Well we would if you stopped cheating." Dean hissed.

Sam looked at them. "Actually, I'm headed somewhere," he said apologetically. "Uh, off to B12…"

"B12?!" Bella screeched. She pointed at her Knights. "Off with his head! Off with is head!"

Dean leapt from her arms and trotted over to Sam. He turned to Bella and stuck out his tongue, "Toot-a-loo!"

He started to sprint away. "Wait!" Sam said running after him. "Let me follow you!"

Like in some grim parade, or deranged funeral march, Dean ran through the woods with Sam in purist, and a handful of Knights shortly after. Dodging branches, Sam tried desperately to catch the bushy tale before he lost Dean again. He didn't notice the root that jutted out of the ground. Once again, he was falling…falling…tumbling down.

He grimaced as he saw the approaching hole. Sam wondered where he would fall next as his rolled into the hole. He landed in five minutes flat this time on his back in the same little room.

Sitting at the table though was an elderly woman with hair that poked out of her skull like dying twigs. Her movements were jumpy, and as she stood up he noticed that from the waist down she was a worm.

The Sh'kern smiled appreciatively at Sam.

_Welcome back, Sam  
To my humble abode.  
I make due, even as  
It all falls and erodes. _

Sam couldn't tell if her voice was in her head or if her pale thin lips where actually talking. "Uh, hello," he tried to be civil, "Do you know how I can get to the surface?"

_If I can worm my way  
Through ground so can you.  
Or you can keep crawling  
Around like some fool._

The Sh'kern hissed her rhyme at Sam. He flinched away from her grubby presence. "I've been trying to get out." He said between clenched teeth.

_Have you? Then why  
Haven't you seen the sun?  
Perhaps because without  
Dean, you're having fun…_

"No!" Sam protested. "Stop playing games. I have to get back to him… he'll be worried…"

She crawled inches closer to him and inspected him with narrow eyes.

_Or is that your worried  
I might eat you alive?  
Is this your idea of  
A trick to survive?_

"No," Sam said quietly. "I just want to see my brother again."

The Sh'kern cackled, and Sam felt a shiver down to his bones. She circled him keeping a low laugh.

_You've learned your lesson  
I guess we're done here  
Just remember to hold on  
To what you hold dear. _

To Sam's dismay she reached out a bony hand to touch him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Dean started digging another hole. With any luck this time he wouldn't disrupt another den of angry badgers and he might just discover his brother. "Fucking woods," he grumbled, "god damn Wenigo has gotta hunt all the way out here… Bastard is lucky he's dead. I wanna kill it again just for making us come out to this cursed forest."

Sam followed the sound of Dean's cranky voice and pressed his way through the oaken door. Walking through the secret entrance in the large tree, he breathed the fresh air and sighed happily.

First things first though, he looked at the grass. No checker pattern. Good. He looked up to see Dean wrestling with an attacking badger. Sam ran over to his brother, happy to help him.

Teamwork and a good deal of prying had the badger done within minutes.

As the claws came off his face, Dean was happy to see Sam. Sam tossed the unconscious badger aside and hugged his brother.

They pulled apart and Sam noticed all the small holes in the hill. "I didn't know this was a graveyard."

"It's not," Dean huffed picking up his shovel. "So…where'd you go?"

Sam shrugged. "Some awful funky town…"

"Well," Dean patted his shoulder. "It's good to have you back. I didn't know how many more possessed badgers I could handle."

"Possessed, Dean? Really?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Did you see how fast that bastard move? Freaking evil."

Sam helped Dean gather up their supplies as they moved slowly out of the woods. "Good thing I showed up." He smiled.

"Yeah," Dean looked at him. "Good thing, partner."

And Sam just thought to himself, _We make the best team._

**D-N-E—E-H-T**


End file.
